Reducing Light Pollution
What can you do to reduce light pollution, save energy and bring back the beauty of the night sky? Here are a few ideas:
- Most importantly, educate yourself on the issues. Visit the International Dark Sky Association for a wealth of outdoor lighting information. Joining the IDA is a great way to show your support for reducing light pollution, making better use of natural resources and for amateur astronomy.
- Ensure that you are not part of the problem by checking that outdoor light fixtures around your house and/or business do not shine unnecessarily at night and that they direct their light output toward the ground and not into the sky. Motion-sensitive lights are a great way to eliminate unnecessary lighting, reduce electricity costs and increase security by drawing attention to movement in an area.
- If you live on a street with poorly designed "cobrahead" or NEMA-style light fixtures, call FPL to complain about the glare and request that the fixtures be changed to full cutoff designs that reduce glare and improve visibility. The FPL residential number for Brevard County is (321) 723-7795, or you can use the FPL contact page. To FPL's credit, some (but not all) newer streetlights in the county are full cutoff designs, and there is some awareness of the issue among the lighting engineers at FPL. Public demand for better, more efficient fixtures is a good way to ensure that the positive trend continues.
- If you have neighbors with unnecessarily bright, poorly designed lights, try talking to them tactfully and politely, and understand the issues they are trying to solve. Offer them alternatives like motion-sensitive lights that beautify their property, draw attention to movement and save money. If you have a telescope, one tactic you can try is to offer your neighbor a look at some bright deep sky objects or planets, and then point out that even more can be seen if the lights were shut off or replaced with full cutoff designs that keep the glare out of your eyes.
- If you are a customer at a restaurant, convenience store, car dealership, shopping mall, home improvement center, grocery store or other establishment that has poor, glare-producing parking lot lights, do not be afraid to politely speak to the manager and let him or her know about energy-saving alternatives that improve visibility and safety.